Ms Nuala Ward:

We have found that children who are experiencing homelessness are a priority for housing. Of those who present as homeless, they go to the top of the list. However, people who are homeless are not a homogenous group. There are particularly vulnerable people within the homeless population and we are concerned in particular about how prioritisation is given to children who are homeless and who have disabilities. We actively pursued Simon's case because there were administrative issues, in that the authority did not have full regard to his medical needs, which would have given him medical priority. However, he was not homeless. There were also language difficulties because English was not the family's first language and the local authority had not fully met their translation needs so that they fully understood. One can imagine how difficult it is to navigate our housing system when English is not one's first language. We have referenced throughout the report the need to recognise particularly vulnerable people within the homeless population.